JPS63115105A - Non-hit switching method for optical transmission line and connector for switching used for same - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention provides a non-disruption switching method that can switch an optical transmission line made of a tape-shaped optical fiber without an instant discontinuation, and a non-disruption switching method used therefor. This invention relates to a disconnection switching connector.

<Conventional technology> In optical communications, work to change the route of optical fiber lines,
In various cases such as new subscriber installation work or even disconnection, it is often necessary to temporarily disconnect the optical transmission line and carry out the work.

In such a case, if the optical transmission line was completely cut off and the construction work required a long time, communication would be interrupted during this time, causing various inconveniences. Therefore, it is desirable that these works be carried out without interruption.

To meet these demands, conventionally, for example, in a single-line optical fiber, the switching parts of the two optical transmission lines are orthogonal to each other, and an optical control board with a special reflection function is installed at this orthogonal part. A method has been proposed in which a switch is installed to switch the optical transmission lines of both systems without momentary interruption (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 132918/1983).

Furthermore, the requirement for uninterrupted switching is exactly the same in the case of optical transmission lines made of tape-shaped optical fibers.

<Problems to be solved by the invention> However, in the case of the above method, since an optical switch with a mechanical structure is used, it tends to be large-sized, and the light control board is This method requires a movable part, is structurally complex, and has drawbacks such as the difficulty of making the switching part more compact.

Naturally, it was difficult to handle tape-shaped optical fibers in which a large number of optical fibers were assembled, and was therefore unsuitable.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems.

<Means for Solving the Problems and Their Effects> One of the aspects of the present invention is that, in the switching section of an optical transmission line made of tape-shaped optical fibers, a waveguide and a detour are connected before and after the switching section. A control optical switch element group in which at least two waveguides of a branch waveguide are formed in a longitudinal direction with respect to the length direction of the tape-shaped optical fiber is arranged in the width direction of the tape-shaped optical fiber, and these A tape-shaped optical fiber of a normal optical transmission line that communicates with the main optical transmission line is connected to the normal waveguide of each optical switch element group, and under normal conditions, communication is performed using the normal waveguide in each optical switch element group. On the other hand, when switching the optical transmission line, the tape-shaped optical fiber of the detour optical transmission line is connected between the detour branch waveguides of each optical switch element group, and the detour branch waveguide of each optical switch element group is used. The present invention provides a method for switching an optical transmission line for communications without instantaneous interruption.

Another feature of the present invention is that, in the width direction on the base plate used in this method, there are fewer normal waveguides and detour branch waveguides (both two-path waveguides are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the tape-shaped optical fiber). The present invention relates to a connector for uninterrupted switching of an optical transmission line in which a group of optical switching elements for control are arranged in a vertical direction.

In other words, optical transmission paths can be freely switched using a small connector having a one-chip optical switch element group in which normal and detour branch waveguides, control electrodes, and the like are formed.

<Embodiment> FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a connector C for instantaneous disconnection switching according to the present invention.

In the figure, 1 indicates a normal waveguide 2a and a detour branch waveguide 2.
A chip-shaped waveguide 2 with two paths b is formed in the vertical direction (vertical direction) with respect to the length direction, and a control electrode 3.3 is attached to the coupling part of each waveguide 2a, 2b. A plurality of control optical switch elements are arranged in the width direction on the base plate 4 to form a series of optical switch element groups S.

Each waveguide 2 of this optical switch element group S...
Tape-shaped optical fibers F are connected to the end faces of ... facing each other. At the time of this connection, for example, as shown in FIG. If you provide 2 pieces on the other side,
By simply inserting the optical fiber F into this hole 6, connection can be achieved with one touch.

FIGS. 3(^) to 3(C) show an embodiment of the instantaneous disconnection switching method of the present invention using this instantaneous disconnection switching connector C.

First, as shown in FIG. 3(A), two uninterrupted switching connectors C9C are installed in advance before and after the switching section where switching of the optical transmission line is required.

Further, between the normal waveguides 2a, 2a of the control optical switch elements 1.1 facing each connector C1C, there is a normal optical transmission line connected to the tape-shaped optical fiber F of the main optical transmission line L0. Tape-shaped optical fiber F is connected.

Therefore, under normal conditions, by controlling the voltage applied to the electrode 3,
Both waveguides 2a of the optical switch element 1.1.

2b is in a non-coupled state, the optical signal is transmitted, for example, from the main optical transmission line L0 on the left in the figure, through this normal optical transmission line, to the main optical transmission line on the right. transmitted to.

In other words, normal communication is performed.

However, when a failure or a problem arises between the normal optical transmission lines 51, a detour is established between the detour branch waveguides 2b and 2b of the optical switch element 1.1, as shown in FIG. 3(B). The tape-shaped optical fiber F of the optical transmission line L2 is connected.

Then, the voltage applied between the electrodes 3 of the optical switch element 1.1 is manipulated (for example, the voltage is dropped) to bring the waveguides 2a and 2b of the optical switch element 1.1 into a coupled state. As a result, the optical signal is transferred to the main optical transmission line L0 in the left direction in the figure.
From there, it is transmitted to the main optical transmission line L0 in the right direction through this detour optical transmission line L2. In other words, detour communication is performed.

After this, as shown in FIG. 3(C), the normal optical transmission line L1
What is necessary is to remove the tape-shaped optical fiber F and perform desired construction or repair.

As described above, in the present invention, even if the tape-shaped optical fiber F is used, switching can be performed instantaneously, and communication will not be interrupted for a long time.

The optical switch element 1 used in the present invention has a substrate material such as L 1Nbo:+, GaAs, In
There are no particular limitations on how to form the waveguides 2a, 2b using P, etc., but for example, ■A j! Ga
As/GaAs system and InGaAsP
/InP-based compound semiconductor, ■Ti-diffused LiNb0+
, Ti-diffused L 1Tao, , crystalline materials such as ZnO, ■
Glass materials such as ion diffusion glass and patterned diffusion quartz,
It can be formed from materials such as: (1) polymeric material, (2) optical fiber material.

As this optical switch element, for example, as shown in FIG. etc., the optical switch element 1
It is also possible to control the electrodes 3 of. This makes it easy to use in places where power is difficult to obtain. Furthermore, it is also possible to use an optical switching element other than the electrode control type, and although it is disadvantageous in terms of optical loss, it is possible to use a switch in which the communication light is always divided into both the normal and detour branch waveguide paths, for example, Directional branching/coupling type, crossing type, branching interference type, balance bridge type, etc. can also be used.

In the above description, the number of detour branch waveguides 2b is one, but depending on the case, it is possible to add two or more branch waveguides.

<Experimental Example> As shown in FIG. 5, LiNb0. An integrated layer is provided, and Ti-diffused waveguides 2a and 2b are formed in the integrated layer portion, and an electrode 3. made of a film formed by sputtering gold (Au) is provided.
3 was formed to obtain an optical switch element 1. The dimensions of each part of the optical switch element 1 are j2+ = 45 mm, lx
=5mm.

lx = 5mm, la = 10mm, j2s =
25mm.

fa = 5mm, I! q = 250 μm.

A connector C of the present invention was made by arranging five of these optical switch elements 1, and two of these were connected to a 5-core tape-shaped optical fiber, and a communication test was conducted with the electrode voltage set to 6. .

As a result, the extinction ratio in the normal optical transmission line using the normal waveguide 2a was 18 dB. Moreover, the loss in the detour optical transmission line using the detour branch waveguide 2b after switching is 2.3d.
B, and good characteristics were obtained.

<Effects of the Invention> As is clear from the above description, the present invention provides excellent optical transmission that can be easily applied to tape-shaped optical fibers, has no moving parts, is highly reliable, and can be made compact. It is possible to provide a connector for switching an optical transmission line without momentary interruption, and at the same time, using this connector, it is possible to provide an excellent method for switching an optical transmission line without momentary interruption.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the connector for instantaneous disconnection switching of an optical transmission line according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the connector shown in FIG. Figure 3 (A)
-(C) are explanatory diagrams showing one embodiment of the method for switching without momentary interruption of an optical transmission line according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another example of the optical switch element, and FIG. 1 is a side view showing a prototype example of an optical switch element according to the present invention. In the figure, 1... Optical switch element for control, 2a... Normal waveguide, 2b... Branch waveguide for detour, 3... Electrode, 4... Base plate, 5... Housing, 6 ... Optical fiber insertion hole, C ... Uninterrupted switching connector, S ... Optical switch element group, F ... Tape-shaped optical fiber, L, ... Main optical transmission line, Ll ...・Normal optical transmission line, L2... Detour optical transmission line, Patent applicant: Fujikura Electric Cable Co., Ltd. Figure 4'ta Figure 5

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) In a switching section of an optical transmission line made of a tape-shaped optical fiber, at least two waveguides, a normal waveguide and a detour branch waveguide, are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the tape-shaped optical fiber before and after the switching section. Control optical switching elements are arranged in the width direction of the tape-shaped optical fiber, and a normal waveguide of each optical switching element group has a normal waveguide connected to the main optical transmission line. The tape-shaped optical fibers of the optical transmission line are connected and communication is performed using the normal waveguide in each optical switch element group during normal times, but when switching the optical transmission line,
A tape-shaped optical fiber of a detour optical transmission path is connected between the detour branch waveguides of each optical switch element group, and communication is performed using the detour branch waveguides of each optical switch element group. Method for switching transmission lines without interruption. (2) A control optical switch in which at least two waveguides, a normal waveguide and a detour branch waveguide, are formed in the width direction on the base plate in the longitudinal direction of the tape-shaped optical fiber. A connector for uninterrupted switching of an optical transmission line, characterized by an array of elements. (3) The optical transmission line according to claim 1, wherein the control optical switch element group is provided with an electrode for controlling coupling/decoupling between the normal and detour waveguides. Connector for uninterrupted switching.